Margaret Atwood, the bestselling and critically acclaimed author responsible for works including “The Handmaid’s Tale,” will kick off two weeks of discussions with established and emerging authors at UC Riverside in February.

Writers Week will begin with Atwood and program director Tom Lutz, a professor of creative writing at UCR, speaking about her five-decade career, followed by a question-and-answer session.

The public can ask questions of Atwood and the 22 other authors who will participate in the free event, which is set for Screening Room 1128 of Interdisciplinary Building South at UCR. One satellite event, with author Ayesha H. Attah, will take place in Los Angeles, at a Baldwin Hills address that will be provided with tickets.

Free parking permits will be available at the kiosk on West Campus Drive at the campus’ University Avenue entrance.

Atwood is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. “The Handmaid’s Tale,” published in 1985, was adapted to a critically acclaimed Hulu series, while her 1996 novel “Alias Grace” was adapted into the a six-part Netflix miniseries.

Other headliners are novelist Rachel Cusk, author of the highly acclaimed “Outline” trilogy, and poet and journalist Quincy Troupe, best known for his nonfiction works about jazz great Miles Davis.

Presentations will last one hour. Other than Atwood, they will consist of an introduction, a reading, then a Q&A session.

This is the 42nd installment of Writers Week, which is California’s longest-running free literary event, according to UCR. Presentations will be Monday, Feb. 4; Tuesday, Feb. 5; and Monday, Feb. 11, to Saturday, Feb. 16.

Ryan Hagen covers the city of Riverside for the Southern California Newspaper Group. Since he began covering Inland Empire governments in 2010, he's written about a city entering bankruptcy and exiting bankruptcy; politicians being elected, recalled and arrested; crime; a terrorist attack; fires; ICE; fights to end homelessness; fights over the location of speed bumps; and people's best and worst moments. His greatest accomplishment is breaking a coffee addiction. His greatest regret is any moment without coffee.